Entertainment news…irreverently covered. You know you want some!

REVIEW: The Grand Budapest Hotel

MOVIE REVIEW: The Grand Budapest Hotel

REVIEW: The Grand Budapest Hotel by Brian Anderson

Film Review of The Grand Budapest Hotelby Brian Anderson

Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel – for the most part – follows the hotel’s concierge, M. Gustave, and his lobby boy apprentice, Zero. When Gustave’s elderly lover dies, he becomes the inheritor of a priceless painting known as “Boy With Apple,” a piece of art that every person in the old woman’s family feels they are entitled to. So naturally, Gustave, with the help of his new lobby boy, plans to steal the painting, and the antics ensue.

It’s not every day a movie comes out that includes a heist, a prison break, a murderer, a shoot-out, and a high-speed chase and isn’t a James Bond movie. In fact, Grand Budapest is a comedy, and a very funny one at that. Anderson is able to infuse his humor and wit into every scene, and it never grows stale. Whether it’s as subtle as a few words a character says off to the side, or something as in-your-face as two people carrying an unrealistically long ladder across the screen, Anderson’s unique sense of humor shines all the way through to the end. Even all of his movies’ recurring actors has a role here, which is a nice wink to the loyal fans. And it should be noted that the newcomers here, like Ralph Fiennes, who played Gustave, and Tony Revolori, who played Zero, did a phenomenal job of bringing these strange characters to life, and they fit perfectly into Anderson’s world.

I can honestly say that this is the most intricate film I’ve ever seen. The detail in the sets, props, and lighting are astonishing to a microscopic scale, which, even though that is not unusual for Wes Anderson, still shocked me, more so in this movie than any of his prior. So much so that when partway through when the screen popped out of Anderson’s signature anamorphic widescreen and into the smaller 4×3 aspect ratio, I was almost relieved; There is so much to look at in every single shot, it became a little overwhelming. In fact, although the film was lovable and magical in it’s presentation, “overwhelming” would be my one word to describe it as a whole. There were so many plot points, I was almost drowning in them. Instead of being told one story, I felt like I was being told several, and the story-within-a-story-within-a-story structure didn’t help distract from that either. Even Zero’s love interest felt shoe-horned in, whether it was there to fill Wes Anderson’s persistent desire for a young-love narrative, or to use the baker girl as nothing more than a plot device to move certain parts of the story forward.

That being said, I haven’t had so much fun watching a movie in years. Between the breathtaking production, the quirky comedy, the superb acting, and Anderson’s always-great writing and directing, this movie is not to be missed. Whether you’re a long-time Wes Anderson fanatic like I am, or a complete virgin to his films, I highly recommend seeing The Grand Budapest Hotel.